Higgins, who had lung cancer, died Sunday night in the hospice where she’d spent the last 16 months, her family said on Monday.

“She was an absolute character. She loved politics, she loved her family, she loved her friends,” said former Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier, who visited the former alderman weekly in the last couple years and considered her a mentor and close friend.

“She was very, very brave and graceful to the end.”

Higgins was 78 — a number she guarded closely before her death. Asked about her age on Monday, Bronconnier replied: “I know the answer she would like me to tell you: ‘It’s none of your damn business’.”

Higgins had served as alderman for southeast Calgary for 21 years, starting in 1977.

Known for her blunt talk and fiscal conservatism, she lost a bid for mayor in 1983 against Ralph Klein, but won re-election three years later and continued to serve until 2001.

She was surrounded by her family and loved ones when she died, her three daughters, Suzy, Lyn and Maureen said in a statement released on Monday.

The daughters said their mother lived a “very full life,” and spent her retirement years enjoying time with her grandchildren, tending her garden and playing bridge each week with friends. She also continued to volunteer for the city on the Calgary Awards.

“Sue was always willing to share her knowledge, experience and acumen to those who would ask,” the statement said.

Tributes poured in Monday from friends and colleagues who remembered Higgins as a salty-tongued straight-shooter and a night owl who worked late poring over council work.

Her elegant cigarette holder in hand, she’d deliver memorable zingers to political foes and other assorted targets.

She once called graffiti vandals “the scum of the earth,” aldermanic pay increases “obscene,” and when asked about the anti-smoking lobbyists who’d pushed a bylaw banning minors from smoking sections, the lifelong smoker replied “(Expletive) ‘em.”

Former alderman Dale Hodges remembered Higgins as a razor-sharp council colleague who would go through budgets with a fine-tooth comb.

“If you were going to cross swords with her, you had better be sure what part of the issue you were going to debate with her on,” said Hodges.

“You had to be on top of the game yourself to keep up.”

Rod Love, a longtime adviser to Klein, recalled long nights gathered in Higgins’ kitchen over a few drinks when the municipal politicians would hash over council meetings.

“She’d say, ‘Come on down and we’ll figure it out at my kitchen table’. They’d drink wine until God knows when.”

Love called Higgins a great Calgarian who devoted her life to public service and “counted every penny on behalf of Calgarians”.

After getting trounced by Klein in the 1983 mayoral election, Higgins got on famously with the mayor, he said. Love described the pair as “hard-drinking, hard-smoking, no-nonsense people who wanted to do the right thing for the city”.

“In an age of polished politics and spin, Sue was always straight-talking and blunt, using her own form of colourful language,” he said in a statement released on Monday.

“But under that tough exterior, she had a deep love for this city and for everyone in it.”

He credited her hard work on council, working as a single mother of three after her husband’s death and earning “a pittance” when the job was considered part time.

Nenshi said he was nervous about visiting Higgins at the hospice in 2012 to discuss honouring her legacy — a conversation that resulted in the renaming of a major dog park in south Calgary after Higgins in 2012.

“We spoke for hours that day. She told me what I was doing right and wrong, and she gave me invaluable advice on how to serve Calgarians,” he said.

Bronconnier remembered Higgins taking him under her wing when he was a rookie alderman, teaching him the ropes but never sugar-coating her advice.

“The most important lesson was always about practical politics, here’s how you get things done,” he said.

Bronconnier said Higgins wanted Calgarians to know that she quit smoking “cold turkey” two years ago.

He said she was fond of the staff at the Intercare Southwood Hospice and kept them on their toes.

Bronconnier said her fierce love for the city shone through even after she stepped aside from politics, and she remained happy to deliver advice in her telltale way.

“She was prepared to very bluntly tell you whether it was a good idea, or a blankety-blank idea,” Bronconnier said.

“She never wavered from that.”

Details on a memorial service are expected later this week.

With files from Jason Markusoff.

jkomarnicki@calgaryherald.com

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